I chose this impairment since it is one close to home. I have a daughter that has been classified as someone with multiple disabilities. Brittany suffered a traumatic brain injury when she was three years. This has been, on its own a hurdle for her advancement through the education system, then to add in her hearing impairment. There were times we thought she had reached the pinnacle in her personal development. Through the use of assistive technology she continued to amaze us. Brittany goes through every day of her life with the largest and most beautiful smile on here face despite the fact that she has issues hearing what is said to her by her employer as well as the bus drivers who transport her. During her time in school, she faced hard ships due to her inability to process instructions from teachers due to her inability to hear. Many of us take for granted the ability to hear and process sounds and the meanings of those sounds. I can only imagine what it would be like if I lost my hearing.
The assistive technology that seemed to make a huge difference in Brittany's educational achievement was the arrival of the smart boards. Smart boards first arrived on the scene in 1991. https://k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com/tlb/using-smart-boards-in-the-classroom/ The Boards are touch sensitive screens over white boards that link to computers or laptops and even now to tablets that allow teachers to differentiate lessons to specific types of students White boards allow teachers to project presi presentations as well as direct web links and to show videos. These boards also allow a teacher, using special pens or pucks to draw on the board to further clarify points during the lessons. White boards also allow the student to save the lesson and drawings on their personal tablets or laptops for future review. Smart boards made a difference for hearing impaired students because the learning environment went from a write concepts on the board and then erase it to move on, to one with pages and the ability for students to save the entire lesson. The inability to process language was minimized through the new technology.
The second technology that made an improvement on my daughter's educational advancement was the inclusion of sound amplification systems in the class room. This allows for amplification of video, computer as well as the teacher's voice through overhead speakers or into ports for headphones at the desks. These systems are very cost effective as well as showing the improvement in standardized testing scores. Using the sound amplification systems allows for the the voice of the teacher, through a wireless lavaliere microphone, to be amplified approximately 8db to 10db above ambient room noise levels. This will aid impaired students to better process spoken concepts in the class room One link that I found to be very basic but informative was http://www.hear-more.com/classsuggestions.htm .
Watching students today at the high school level wearing mp3 players and the such with headphones in so loud that I can hear the music as they pass in the hallways means that there will be a huge need for advancements in assistive technology for students with hearing impairment. I believe many of these advancements will come in the basic cost of these current technologies. Society has witnessed the costs dropping on computers, cell phones and televisions through out the years as manufacturing has improved. Education will see the inhibitive costs for smart boards as well as sound field amplification systems improve. These devices will become common place in the classroom which will serve to aid in the elimination of hearing impairment as a stumbling stone to education.
References:
https://k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com/tlb/using-smart-boards-in-the-classroom/
http://www.ehow.com/about_5101358_smart-boards-used-classroom.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_Board_interactive_whiteboard
http://www.schoolsoundfield.co.uk/catalogue/12/School-Soundfield
http://downloads01.smarttech.com/media/research/international_research/australia/proof_research_creating_enhanced_learning_environments.pdf
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